1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to swimming pool cleaning apparatus and, more particularly, to wear rings for use on flexible swimming pool whip hoses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices are known for removing sediment and suspended particulate matter from swimming pools. Manually operated vacuuming devices are commonly used, but the use of such devices requires considerable manual labor. Further, such devices are rather ineffective because their utilization "stirs up" a considerable amount of sediment, which resettles before it can be removed by a recirculating filtration system. Pressurized flexible "whip hoses" are commonly utilized to eject high velocity jets of water randomly along inner surfaces of a swimming pool to keep particulate matter in suspension so the filtration system can remove the particulate matter. Various systems have been utilized to control the sinuous whipping action of whip hoses, including positioning variously spaced buoys and weights along the flexible whip hoses. An early but unsuccessful approach for controlling a nozzle end of a flexible whip hose is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,298 (Gelinas), wherein a nozzle end of the whip hose is supported on a planchette device mounted on several casters and propelled in a random pattern along the bottom of a swimming pool by thrust produced by high velocity expulsion of water through the whip hose nozzle. To avoid abrading of flexible whip hoses and also to control their whipping action, plastic wear rings have been concentrically disposed along whip hoses, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,052 (Koble et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,172 (Kane). Such wear rings support the whip hoses so that the whip hoses do not contact the inner surfaces of the swimming pool during their random whip-like movement along the inner surfaces. However, the known wear rings themselves are abraded considerably by the inner surfaces of the swimming pool and therefore must be periodically replaced. The known wear rings also cause damage to the finish of the interior pool surface. Other known devices representative of the state of the art are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,521,304; 3,575,729; 3,585,654; 3,433,237; 3,269,421; 3,139,009; 3,170,180; 3,108,298; 3,078,998; 3,032,044; and 2,982,971. However, none of the disclosed prior wear ring devices are both reliable and essentially maintenance-free.